Worst Persons in the World

A group of families led by conservative parents in the suburbs of Chicago have filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration alleging that allowing transgender children to use a bathroom or locker room that corresponds with the gender they identity as has somehow harmed their own children.

Rather than teach their children that there's nothing to be afraid of, these despicable parents have affirmed the "stress" their children are allegedly experiencing by filing a lawsuit against the Department of Education.

A group of 51 families (73 parents and 63 students — most of whom have maintained anonymity), represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and Thomas More Society, claim that allowing Student A access to locker rooms harms their kids’ rights by infringing on their privacy. The families even call themselves “Students and Parents for Privacy.” The way the suit reads, these students’ lives and educational experiences have been devastated by the stress of having to coexist with a transgender classmate.

The suit describes multiple forms of trauma these girls have apparently experienced knowing a transgender student might be in the restroom, including anxiety, fear, fright, apprehension, humiliation, intimidation, degradation, stress, embarrassment, discomfort, and loss of dignity.

A transgender student "might be" present. Maybe. The possibility and/or presence of Civil Rights has allegedly caused them great discomfort.

Isn't that the story of white America?

In addition to their claim that federal policy has violated their children's right to privacy, the parents leading this lawsuit also allege that federal policy has violated their "constitutional right to instill moral standards and values in their children."

Is there a constitutional right to teach your child to be a piece of shit? I don't believe there is as far as public facilities are concerned. For example, there is no right, to my knowledge, that says parents have standing to object to their children using the same school restroom as a gay child or a black or Hispanic child.

As I've pointed out several times in recent weeks, this issue will ultimately land in front of the Supreme Court because lawsuits have been filed both in support of, and in opposition to, transgender rights in multiple federal jurisdictions.

I find it exceedingly difficult to imagine anti-transgender legal arguments that somehow manage to be more substantive than arguments against gay rights that obviously did not pan out well for bigots in court. Transgender rights and gay rights are each unique issues, but the legal and "moral" arguments against both look very similar. If this all feels like we've seen this movie before, I believe we have.

I hope these people, especially the children, can come down off their cross long enough to learn something in the future. Or they can just stay there. Pardon my French, but fuck'em.

If these parents have the resources to challenge the Civil Rights Act in federal court, perhaps they should simply send their children to private schools with other like-minded, puritan assholes.

Related

If those people really wanted to protect their children, they’d pass a law barring Republicans from bathrooms & locker rooms.

ffakr

someone should point out to the bible-thumping conservatives that they don’t have a right to privacy. At least that’s what they’ve been screaming ever since Roe v. Wade. ‘There’s no Right To Privacy in the Constitution!! Those unelected judges just made that up!’.
You shouldn’t get to file lawsuits based on a legal interpretation that you refuse to believe exists. If you don’t believe in a right to privacy, a lawsuit based on your claim of a right to privacy should be treated as perjury.

muselet

The suit describes multiple forms of trauma these girls have apparently experienced knowing a transgender student might be in the restroom, including anxiety, fear, fright, apprehension, humiliation, intimidation, degradation, stress, embarrassment, discomfort, and loss of dignity.

Uh-huh. And those “multiple forms of trauma” (?) couldn’t possibly have been caused by the bigots in their families who are telling them transgender people are disgusting predators?

Once again I say, I dread to think who these people will go after once they’ve exhausted the QUILTBAG.

–alopecia

JMAshby

It’s a good question. There’s always a new enemy.

gescove

In what Right-Wing-mad-scientist-let’s-fire-up- the-bigots -our-base-meth-lab did this frantic effort to criminalize bathroom use come from? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with these people?